Driving Impressions
reviewed by
The new 5.7-liter Hemi V8 gives the Dodge Ram responsive performance. Fire up the Hemi, let it idle, and it burbles like a good old American V8, sounding like an engine in a cabin cruiser or a '60s muscle car. In spite of the hot-rod term "Hemi," there's nothing old or outdated about this engine. It does, indeed, have hemispherical combustion chambers, but this is a thoroughly modern engine. Apparently, Dodge was researching ways to gain power and fuel efficiency and reduce emissions, objectives that often run counter to one another. While studying some of the older powertrain designs, Dodge engineers rediscovered that swirling the fuel-air mixture around a hemispherical combustion chamber achieves a clean, efficient burn. Though it's an overhead-valve design, the Hemi features twin spark plugs, direct ignition, and electronic throttle control. It achieves the holy grail of engine improvement, increasing power while improving fuel economy at the same time. The Hemi generates 345 horsepower at 5400 rpm and 375 pound-feet of torque at 4200 rpm. It comes with a newly developed five-speed automatic that adds to its responsiveness and flexibility. Punch it and you know you've got a Hemi under the hood. A properly equipped Hemi increases the Ram's towing capacity to 9200 pounds and payload by an additional 500 pounds. It gets an impressive 14/18 mpg with 2WD.
The popular 4.7-liter V8 delivers responsive performance as well, though it doesn't offer the trailer-towing torque of the 5.7-liter. Equipped with the 4.7-liter, the Ram feels eager around town and on winding roads. It accelerates quickly onto freeways and has no trouble powering up grades. It's a smooth, sophisticated engine that always feels ready to go. The 4.7-liter V8 uses an overhead-cam design, smaller and more efficient than the overhead-valve engine it replaced. It also achieves good fuel efficiency (14/19 mpg with 2WD). It revs higher than an overhead valve engine and generates 240 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque. The 4.7-liter V8 feels smooth and refined, emitting a pleasant American burble while underway. We really liked it. The optional five-speed automatic improves the responsiveness of the 4.7-liter engine and is more responsive than four-speed automatics.
The 3.7-liter V6 is smooth and works well with the manual six-speed gearbox. If you don't live in the mountains where long grades and high altitudes conspire against you, then it may offer enough power as a light-duty truck. It's not the best choice for pulling trailers or heavy loads, however. The overhead-cam 3.7-liter V6 has been upgraded for 2005 for a smoother idle, improved fuel efficiency and more low-end torque. It delivers 215 horsepower and 235 pound-feet of torque and 16/21 mpg with the manual.
The Ram has a pleasant ride quality, important on long days. It's much smoother than the previous-generation Ram. Its rigid chassis minimizes road vibration. Dodge uses hydroforming to fashion the frame. Instead of having to weld a bunch of straight pieces together, hydroforming uses ultra-high water pressure to force the metal into shape. This highly rigid frame is a key component to the ride and handling of the Ram. It allowed Dodge engineers to redesign the Ram suspension and tune it precisely, without having to work around a lot of chassis flex. Rack-and-pinion steering sharpens handling, though we've noticed some on-center vagueness. Big 17-inch wheels are standard. The result overall is that the Ram offers responsive handling, a comfortable ride, and a general feeling of tightness.
The Ram is a big truck and on narrow roads it feels like one. It feels big and tall, and its fenders seem to fill small country roads. The ride height of the Ram adds to this sensation. It's sometimes difficult to be sure exactly where your fenders are, so it's not the best vehicle for the timid. In this regard, the Ram is at the opposite end of the spectrum from the Toyota Tundra, which feels small and nimble by comparison. The Ram handles reasonably well and powers through or over just about anything, even when the tires aren't always precisely where you intended to place them. Quad Cab adds 20 inches to the wheelbase and long bed adds 20 inches, so a Quad Cab long bed is a long truck, riding on a 160.5-inch wheelbase. It's long on roominess and utility, but not the easiest to turn around.
All Rams come standard with big four-wheel disc brakes that are smooth and easy to modulate.
Trailer towing capacities range from just 3,050 pounds for a 3.7-liter V6 Quad Cab with 2WD and manual transmission to 9,300 pounds for a 5.7-liter V8 Quad Cab 2WD automatic. A 4WD Ram with the 4.7-liter and automatic transmission is rated to pull a 7,450-pound trailer with the 3.92 rear axle ratio. The available 20-inch wheels reduce towing capacity by about 1,000 pounds. Payloads range from about 1,200 pounds to 1,750 pounds. A Tow/Haul mode on the automatic transmission provides crisper shifts and reduces gear searching for reduced heat buildup when towing.
Four-wheel-drive models ride on a torsion-bar independent front suspension and use a part-time transfer case that can be shifted from two-wheel drive on the fly. Shifting into 4WD High locks the center differential. Low range provides superior traction in extreme conditions. A limited-slip rear differential is available and we recommend it for drivers who intend to go off road. A Protection Group ($90) includes skid plates for the front suspension and transfer case. Rear axles are available in a standard 3.55 ratio or a numerically higher 3.92 ratio, which is better for towing and off-road driving.
A full-time four-wheel-drive system and electric transfer case is also available. Under normal driving conditions, the full-time system delivers 48 percent of the torque to the front wheels and 52 percent to the rear wheels. The system includes a locking transfer case that features four-wheel-drive High and Low modes.
Then there's the SRT-10. The Ram SRT-10 is built by Chrysler's Performance Vehicle Operations, and uses the Viper's 500-horsepower V10 engine and six-speed Tremec T56 gearbox. Dodge set out to build the fastest truck on the planet and they outdid themselves. The handling and brakes are stunning, for a 5150-pound pickup truck.
At barely
half the price ($45,800 vs. $85,000), the SRT-10 is more fun to drive than the Viper because it's slower: The truck does 0-60 in 5.3 seconds against the Viper's 3.9 thanks to the sports car's mere 3380 pounds. The Viper is so fast that you find yourself speeding on the freeway before you get out of third gear. With the SRT-10 you get more chances to hammer it, and use that great gearbox with the smooth Hurst shifter.
We put about 500 miles on an SRT-10 regular cab. The remote Texas two-lane blacktop roads were bumpy and narrow under the truck's massive 22-inch Pirelli Scorpion PZero Asimmetrico tires mounted on beautiful aluminum wheels made in Italy. There were lots of fast sweepers, followed by braking and downshifting hard from fourth gear to second. Even without drive-by-wire, the throttle response makes heel-and-toe downshifting a piece of cake on the drilled aluminum pedals. The huge brakes, with 15-inch rotors and twin-piston calipers in front, took the abuse in stride. Single-lane turns, down in a dip over a cattle guard, and smoking the tires coming out. Yee haw! There's a limited-slip differential, but no electronic traction control. Controlling traction is not the object of a truck like this.
Dodge let a hot-rodder who knows what he's doing design the suspension, and boy does it show. And what can you say about a 505-cubic-inch V10 with 525 pound-feet of torque? It never stops whumpin'.
The engine's high compression rocks your head forward when you back off the throttle at higher rpm, so indecisive driving is punished, as it should be. You have to know your line and make good decisions in advance, and not change your mind and suddenly get off the gas. Without self-discipline behind the wheel, it's easy to drive into corners too fast.
PVO engineers spent a lot of time in the wind tunnel tweaking the truck's aerodynamics. The slick rear wing isn't for show, it's necessary; this is a 150-mph truck, after all. Like a racing wing, it adds stability by reducing lift while cutting drag. There's a lot of attention to aerodynamic detail, for example the splitter in the front air dam, using things they learned in NASCAR's Craftsman series for trucks. Dodge says the SRT-10 handles like a sports car, but no, it handles like a NASCAR road racer, only better.
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